East: Will it be just an outer garb of democracy?

Amidst heavy security and fluttering flags Batticaloa’s Mayor Sivageetha Prabagaran is sworn in

If the Government "liberated" the East from Tiger guerrilla control in July last year, arguably a democratic process of sorts got under way in the Batticaloa district with the conduct of local polls nearly four weeks ago.

Some telling scenes at the Pradeshiya Sabha (PS) office along the Post Office Road in this eastern capital last Wednesday underscored this transition. Armoured vehicles with their gun turrets pointed at possibe or perceived threats stood guard. Commandos of the Police Special Task Force (STF), in their camouflage uniforms carrying US-built M-16 assault rifles were ubiquitous by their presence. National and district flags fluttered in the gentle breeze.

Sivageetha Prabagaran, the Mayor of Batticaloa, was in her ceremonial garb. To the strains of Namo, Namo Thayey (the Tamil version of Namo, Namo Matha) played by a local band, she hoisted the Sri Lanka flag. When it ended, there was wide applause from the PS staff and invitees. This Sabha adjoins the Municipal Council building which is now under repairs.

The ceremony symbolized the control the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP or Tamil People's Liberation Tigers) had over this eastern district. Six years ago, when the Norwegian-brokered Ceasefire Agreement of 2002 was signed, no one would have thought such a scenario would unfold this week, in this famed land of the singing fish. That was when the present day TMVPers were comrades in arms with guerrillas of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). But their leader, Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan alias Colonel Karuna, reneged and history changed. Whilst he is now languishing in the Wormwood Scrubs Prison in the United Kingdom, giving leadership to this transformation is his erstwhile deputy, Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan better known as Pillayan.

That the TMVP is in power, or more importantly in full control, is evident everywhere. In the city centre, workers are busy laying concrete slabs on pavements. Zebra crossings are being painted. Tarring of roads and by-lanes has got under way. Sand mining from rivers outside the city for construction has increased. The main bus stand is being given a facelift. Sand bags that were piled up at bunkers in the Weber Stadium, once an Army camp, are being broken and the soil is being used to re-surface the playground. Residents I spoke with say the contracts for all this and more have gone to both TMVP supporters and their relatives. "They are taking a big share of the development cake," said a local official.

But taking these big shares is no different to what happens in other parts of Sri Lanka. But there is something which is even bigger and has shades of what the LTTE has put in place in territory dominated by it in the Wanni. The TMVP is also collecting "taxes." Some say the practice has been derived from the LTTE which was in control of some areas in this district earlier. But others say it has now been fine-tuned.

"They send a collector to take the so-called taxes from us," said the owner of a liquor shop who spoke on grounds of anonymity for fear of his life. He said he paid Rs. 150 a bottle for locally-manufactured liquor and one rupee on a cigarette. There were also taxes on a number of other items which the business houses had to pay the TMVP.

A delegation from the Batticaloa Traders Association met Mayor Prabagaran and her deputy two weeks ago to demand that the TMVP "taxes" be stopped. They argued that an assurance was given by the TMVP that such taxes would not be in force after the local polls. A spokesman for the association said an assurance was given that it would be stopped but the practice continues. "Those who do not pay up have been threatened with abduction or other dire consequences," he said. As a result, he added, the customer has to pay more for a variety of consumer goods.

There are still 16,000 internally displaced persons in camps in Batticaloa. I visited the Sinhala Maha Vidyalaya camp, where more than one hundred families from Sampur are still living since June 2006. Most of them want to return to their villages in the Trincomalee District.

Thamotharam Baskaran, 42, a farmer from Sampur West told The Sunday Times they were forced to leave their village after the army took control of the area in 2006. Despite claims from the government they have not been able to return to their homes.“Why can’t the Government allow us to return to our original places? We know that our villages were brought under a high security zone. Now the State is trying to resettle us in different places giving false excuses,” he said.

“We are waiting for an opportunity to teach the Government and the paramilitary Tamil groups a good lesson. We will prove that in the May 10 Eastern Province elections,” he added. Marimuttu Thangarathnam, 55 , mother of four, said, “my husband was a fisherman and we had two boats. I was maintaining a herd of more than 100 goats and cows. Today, my sister and I go from house to , pounding rice and we get a small wage of Rs. 200 each daily. Now we are living in a Government school building. The Government has already taken our lands. So until we are settled in the original places in Sampur we are not going to vacate this building”.

This week a hurriedly-organized mobile service was held in Batticaloa with Cabinet Ministers Karu Jayasuriya and Susil Premajayantha and local politicians taking part in the event at the Hindu College grounds. More than 15,000 attended and they submitted more than 12,000 complaints. More than 5,000 complaints were sorted out within two days.

A few LTTE operatives in the area, making use of this opportunity tried to enter the college grounds. However, two suspects arrested by the army were later handed over to the police for further interrogation.“This shows that small groups are still operating,” A. M. Anzar, a retired senior Government officer said.

The scenario in Batticaloa could be encapsulated by the remarks of a retired teacher. He said, “Having the provincial elections in the east is a good idea, but who is going to rule? Will it be the Government, the armed forces or the armed Tamil militia? If the Government is really interested in bringing normalcy to the East, it should first disarm all the armed groups in the district. Otherwise, we will see groups like ‘PLOTE Mohan’ and ‘Razeek’ coming into the scene very soon.”